We headed to Oriental Wash from Gold Point and found this road to be a well graded two track dirt road. All was going well until my GPS routed me into a wash heading to Death Valley Road. It appeared my GPS was wrong so we stayed on the dirt road thinking it would connect in a few miles to Death Valley Road.

I should have taken out my map and doubled checked because we would up on Tule Canyon and then connected to highway 266 and then 168 back to Big Pine.

This took us longer but it turned out OK because none of us had ever ridden through Tule Canyon and it was, I think, a more fun route than the one I had planned.

Plus Rich and Jim loved the twisties, even though it was paved, on 168.

Three of us are fairly new to KTM's. My prior bike was a DRZ400S. Jim came off a dual sported XR65a0R and Rich's prior dual sport was an older XR600R. We were all skeptical of how reliable the KTM would be on a long ride like this and I have to say the KTM's exceeded all expectations and didn't loose any oil during the whole trip.

We had so much fun on this ride that I am now planning a ride across Nevada following the Pony Express Route.

We rode most of this trip between 4,500 ft and 7,800 ft elevation which is why it was so cool. This should mean we can ride at similar elevations on other trips even when it warms up.

Nevada looks like it will be my "dual sport" destination for a while to come and it did not disappoint in any way.

With my 5.2 gallons of fuel and a comfy wide seat, I'm ready to ride again.

this the top of ophir pass in late june back in 2009. at the other end the snow must have been 8 to 10 feet deep. i decided not to risk it.

glad you had a good ride sir, nevada is truly a special place.

That must be the "snow drift" we were told about in Hadley by a local. He told us he thought there was no way we could get through it. Makes me want to ride that pass even more just to see that drift of snow.

I followed a route on the west flank of Montezuma, east of Clayton Ridge. Might have been an old prospecting trail, maybe used for V2R then lightly graded once, then abandoned for a couple years, then last summer's monsoons did a job on it. I had just gone through several miles of deep, sucking gravel wash and didn't wan't to turn back. Also well beyond the midpoint of my fuel range and aiming for Tonopah. Despite the cloud cover, it was pretty warm out.

There were a dozen or so washouts like this... (though this was easily the worst).

Lots of ups and downs like this...

Would've been easy, even fun, on a small bike, but I was travelling a little heavy...(This was a different part of the trip... escaping V2R racecourse, heading for Bonnie Claire.)

Glad you guys enjoyed the ride. As noted, you would not have made it over the Toiyabes from Ophir/Murphys to the Yomba. I was through there in October, going west to east. The east slope (Ophir side) is pretty gnarly even on lighter unloaded dirt bikes. I would hesitate to take a group over from east to west. Better going west to east.

You might want to go farther north up Smoky Valley and go west through Kingston Canyon and over. New Berlin is well worth a visit for the mill and other ruins. Ione is quaint. Icsyasaur (Sp) is worth a vist.

Glad you guys enjoyed the ride. As noted, you would not have made it over the Toiyabes from Ophir/Murphys to the Yomba. I was through there in October, going west to east. The east slope (Ophir side) is pretty gnarly even on lighter unloaded dirt bikes. I would hesitate to take a group over from east to west. Better going west to east.

You might want to go farther north up Smoky Valley and go west through Kingston Canyon and over. New Berlin is well worth a visit for the mill and other ruins. Ione is quaint. Icsyasaur (Sp) is worth a vist.

Caliente area is good too. Delamar, Pioche....

FWIW

Glad to get this information because I am planning another trip and knowing that West to East is easier is very helpful. On my first time through Ophir Pass at 10,000 ft, I prefer to run it the easier way to make sure we all make it.

On our next trip, Jim and Rich will be bringing their R100GS BMW Airheads so it will be interesting how they do if we wind up on some difficult sections. I'm staying with my KTM 500 because it will go anywhere and is easy to pick up when I screw up

If you have any pics of Ophir pass and some of the difficult sections, that would be great.

What a great and timely thread! ADV's "Bob" and I have been mulling a few days in the first week of June, based out of, perhaps, Bob Scott Campground near Austin. I called the Austin Ranger District a few minutes ago, and didn't get an encouraging access report for the high roads, which are of greatest interest.

Any late news from the greater Austin region would be welcome and appreciated. Thanks to you all!

I came back from Moab yesterday. Didn't get off of 50 but looks like a lot of new snow in the Toiyabes. I am thinking it will be a while before Ophir is passable....

Did you hit Tybo, SE of Belmont/Manhattan? Might be a little warmer/less snow issues...Delamar? Pioche?

FWIW

We rode through Manhattan and spent alot of time in Belmont, thus we didn't have enough time on the last trip to get to "the punch bowl".

Not sure exactly where Tybo is. This part of Nevada is all new to me.

Do you think we could tamp down a path through the snow on Ophir Pass and then ride the bikes through or is that snow constantly melting and refreezing making it icy and slippery?

Depending on the conditions, I might reschedule this trip for later in June or should I even wait until July? Trying not to ride when it is too hot but at the same time, I want to be able to ride the high mountain passes.

If anyone has the phone numbers for the Austin, Eureka and Ely Forest Rangers, post them so we can stay in touch with the people closest to the trails.